Yemeni Government Expected to Grant Saleh Immunity

In a draft endorsed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and the the European Union, Yemen’s interim cabinet agreed to grant President Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution if he agreed to step down from power. This draft would also grant immunity to any “aides who worked with him in all government, civil and military departments during the years of his rule,” according to Saba state news agency. The law must be passed through parliament in order for it to officially be recognized; however, lawmakers expect the draft to be passed with some changes.

Meanwhile, in protests that have continued during Saleh’s honorary term, two more citizens were killed.

Recently, Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi announced that he will leave Sanaa if Saleh does not hand over full control of the government. Saleh also made a statement that he would not be leaving Yemen, violating the agreements of a pledge to return to the United States. Instead, Alahali reported that Saleh had taken a plane to Saudi Arabia to get treated at a hospital. According to Joseph Keshishian, “Yemen is on the verge of internal collapse – economically, politically, militarily as well. A civil war has been reverted so far but we are on the brink of a major catastrophe if this deal doesn’t go through. [Saleh] agreed to the deal but his heart was not in it from the very beginning. He does not care about Yemen or the people because as long as he stays in power and maintains his insistence that he is legitimate president of the country, which he is not, none of the crises on the ground will change.”